Last Words
by Ky'atia Archive
Summary: Vegeta is on his home planet preparing to be taken away by Frieza. My take on how he got to be so mean.


Title: Last Words  
Warnings: None really, a little blood and stuff, but not too bad, and some angst, but  
again, nothing horrible  
Rating: PG-13 for the above reasons

--- Part 1---  
--- Prisoner of His Own Castle ---

The Saiya-jin prince stormed down the maroon corridor of his castle, his prison. His flaming black hair and perfectly chiseled muscles looked as thought they had been painted into the scenery. He wore a slight smirk on his pale face that was visible only to those who knew him best, which certainty wasn't many people. His only companion, his training partner, but never a friend, was Nappa.  
An almost identical replica to the prince, with the exception of the black mustache that rode above his lips, grabbed his heir's shoulder and spun him around to face him.  
"Yes, your highness?" the younger of the two asked, as if he didn't know the face staring back at him was his father.  
The king glared at him. "Boy! Do not speak unless you are spoken to!" he yelled at his son, nameless to the king, and punched his stomach, nearly bringing him to the ground, floored with pain, but he quickly held back his pain and hid it away before he earned another slam from his father.

Too late... The flame-haired prince felt a burning pain at the back of his head and a warm liquid bathing his neck and began to run down his back. The darkness came on quickly, though the tried to make it go away. Before he fell to the floor he heard the king say to him only one single line that he'd heard many times in his life:

"Saiya-jins DO NOT show pain!"

And then there was nothing.

--- Part 2 ---  
--- The One Who Cared ---

When the handsome prince awoke, he could see nothing except a blurry white figure with hair that cascaded down her back like an endless black waterfall. Her tail was wrapped around her waist, just as everyone wore theirs. At least in the upper classes. Just as the prince was beginning to fall back into the peaceful, painless darkness, the woman spoke.  
"Vegeta, are you okay?" she asked in a soft voice.  
He tried to sit up from his bed when she pushed him down gently. "No. You are going to rest as long as you can before your father comes back."  
He frowned at the mention of his demonic father. "Okay, mother. I am fine, though."  
"Then why have you been unconscious for a week if you are fine?"  
He chuckled softly. "Point taken," Vegeta said. He lifted his hand to the back of his head and felt a bandage, moist with blood. His eyebrows narrowed, "What is that thing and why is it on my head?"  
"It is a bandage, Vegeta. It's on your head because you would have bleed to death without it."  
"...You should have let me die, mother," the sad prince whispered.  
"But--" she began to ask.  
"No. It would have been better than dying by his hands while I was awake," he cut her off.  
"I could never let that happen. I cannot do much now, but I will not let you die," she said with sorrow in her voice.  
"I know you think that I am too young to die, right?"  
"Of course! You are only 15, you know, and a mother is not made to bury her child."  
"You are the only one who would care..." he spoke truthfully and fell into his deep, black sleep before she could say another word.  
The beautiful queen's deep violet eyes filled with tears as she held her only son and told him that she did love him and care about him.

--- Part 3 ---  
--- One Week ---

Sweat was streaming down Vegeta's face as he landed on the floor of his gravity room. His heavily weighted Saiya-jin armor was digging into his skin.  
'Nothing new... just another day in hell...' the warrior thought. It certainty felt the part, too with the rooms fiery red color and blistering heat.  
Putting his discomfort aside, he walked proudly over to the machine and turned it up another 50 points. He was drawn almost immediately to the ground on his hands and knees.   
"Arrgh..." he groaned trying his hardest to get up before his father came in to see him 'slacking off' and gave him more near-death torture like the week before. After a few minutes, he managed a hover above the ground while he practiced simple training moves. The black haired Saiya-jin continued this for several hours until his father came in and yelled at him to turn off the machine. He breathed a sigh of relief and flew down.  
"You will be leaving this planet in one week. In that time, you will train as gruelingly hard as possible to prepare yourself. You may start that tomorrow. Go get some rest. Got it?" the devilish king demanded of his son.  
"Yes, your highness," Vegeta said quickly and dashed out of the chamber. Upon entering his 'dungeon' as he called it, he pulled off his training clothing and walked into his warm shower in attempt to relax his tense muscles. He stayed there for longer than he should've because after he was dried off and had his boxers on, the clock read 6:30 PM.  
'Wonderful. Only 7 hours of sleep tonight,' he thought bitterly. After all, it was a well known fact that Saiya-jins needed a full 10 hours of sleep to be in peak condition for training the next day. He turned at looked himself over in the full length mirror. His muscles hadn't changed much, bigger, yes, but other than that, he hadn't changed for a long time. Almost all of his life, he'd had artistically built muscles all over his body. His appearance was almost perfect, except for one thing: he was as pale as a ghost. Well, that probably came from his never leaving the castle in his life. He'd never even seen the outside of him castle except in photos.  
The prince sighed and went to bed. He slept a dreamless and dark sleep.  
The next morning he awoke to someone softly rubbing his shoulders. He spun around quickly to face the intruder and saw his mother. "Oh, good morning, Vegeta."  
" 'Morning," he replied. The queen embraced her son and wondered aloud sadly why he was being taken to Frieza to be his servant.   
"What?! I'm going with that lizard??"  
"Shhh!" she hushed wide eyed, "He's in the castle! You don't want him to hear you!"  
He covered his mouth and grew as wide eyed as his mother. "Oh my gosh...!" he said, muffled by his hands.  
"Well, I don't think he heard you. It's okay. Just do not do that again."  
"I must get ready soon, so I will see you later, all right?"  
"Yes, okay," she replied and left.  
Again, like every other day, he took a quick shower and dressed in his weighted training clothes. It continued this way each day; at least until that fateful day when he was called from his room to go with his new master.

--- Part 4 ---  
--- To Say Goodbye ---

The previous night, Vegeta could barely sleep a wink because, though he'd never admit it, he was worried about Frieza and his evil henchmen. He'd never actually seen Frieza and hoped he wouldn't make an idiot of himself and embarrass the royal Saiya-jin family. He would, quite literally, get killed for that. Not that he would care, of course. After all, Vegeta had a horrible home life; no one except his mother cared about him. That would be over soon though, as he was leaving and probably would never see his Mom again. 'I'll never let myself care about anyone anymore...not if it hurts this bad to let them go...' he swore to himself silently.  
He soon fell into a light doze that involved little sleeping and a LOT of tossing and turning. That morning, he was allowed to sleep until the break of dawn, which was rare. In fact, he'd never been allowed to sleep past 2:30 AM before.  
His Mom came and woke him up at 5:15 in the morning. He opened his eyes and looked at her. She'd tried her best to look nice for him to remember her by. Her waist length, jet black hair was pinned into a French twist with white gold pins with pearls on the tips. She wore violet eye shadow that matched her eyes perfectly. Her lips were painted with a deep scarlet that showed up very well with her milky white skin.  
Her dress was strapless and had a V neckline. It was also violet, but a darker shade than her makeup. It was adorned with pearls, amethysts and sapphires.  
However, no matter how lovely she looked, there was no denying her flushed cheeks that were those of a person who had just been crying. His theory was reinforced with her misty eyes, clouded with tears that she was trying desperately to hold back.  
He sat up embraced her tightly while he told her that he'd be back soon, doubting his comment greatly. Her floodgate of tears opened up and he felt the hot salty water drip on his shoulder.  
"It's okay, Mom..." he whispered.  
She continued to cry for several minutes before releasing him, finally able to stop. Much to her surprise, his eyes remained closed and a single tear fell down his cheek. His eyes opened and they looked at each other deeply, as if trying to memorize the others face exactly.  
"I... uhh... have to get dressed... " Vegeta said nervously.  
His Mom nodded and walked out slowly.  
In the years to come, Vegeta would never remember putting on his weighted royal armor and cape. He wouldn't even remember walking to the conference room, where he would meet Frieza for the first time. He would only remember being at the entrance of his ship getting ready to say goodbye to his mother. He hugged her and whispered, "Don't forget me..."  
"Never. You don't forget me, okay?" she pleaded.  
"Never... Goodbye, Mom."  
"Good...bye, Vegeta..."  
Their eyes locked until he was forced up the stairs to the ship. He took one last look at the planet that he once called his own. He felt the ship begin to soar into the sky and then his new master appeared in front of him.   
Frieza smirked and said, "For your first assignment..."

And Vegeta began the life he would have for several years, until his angel would save him, and bring him into the light...


End file.
